Be Grateful.
Likely by now we’re all too familiar with the science that confirms beyond a shadow of a doubt that when we’re grateful we enter a state of psychophysiological coherence — in other words our psychological (mental and emotional) and physiological (bodily) processes get in sync, and we experience greater emotional stability, have increased mental clarity, and improved cognitive function. In other words, when we’re grateful our body and brain work better, we feel better, and we perform better.
Don’t just believe me or the science, give this experiment a shot yourself. All you’ll need is yourself and an open mind.
Experiment: I invite you to try being grateful and grumpy at the same time. Seriously, go for it…
Think about someone or something you’re grumpy (pissed off, scared, resentful, resigned, arrogant, etc.) about.
Picture the person, place, situation, and implications as clearly and as granularly as you are able to.
Bring your attention to listening to the stories/narratives running around your mind.
Let your awareness settle on your body. See if you can feel where this story has taken ahold of your body. (How does it feel? How’s your breathing? Where’s your body holding onto the stress? Your eyes, jaw, neck, back being some of the usual suspects.)
Take a mental and emotional snapshot of how this looks and feels. Imagine encapsulating the experience and then carefully putting it down, so that it’ll be safe and sound and all intact for you to pick up again after this experiment if you’re so inclined. Don’t worry, it’ll be right here if you want to pick it up again afterwards.
But for now…
Please go ahead and take four deep-ish breaths. Pay attention to your inhale and exhale. See if you can let yourself breathe out a little more than you breathe in. Next, easily transition into imagining that you’re breathing in and out of the area around your heart (I get this sounds kinda goofy, but I’m confident that you’re smart and can figure this out) for a handful of breaths. Once you feel connected with your heart…
Think about someone or something you are grateful (love, appreciate etc) for.
Picture the person, place, situation, and implications as clearly and as granularly as you are able to.
Bring your attention to listening to the stories/narratives running around your mind.
Let your awareness settle on your body. See if you can feel where this story has taken ahold of your body. (How does it feel? How’s your breathing? Where’s your body holding onto the stress? Your eyes, mouth, (smile) neck, back being some of the usual suspects.)
Let yourself luxuriate in this experience.
A reminder, the experiment was to try being grateful and grumpy at the same time. You can’t. You’ve just been scienced (not a word, but I think it fits) There’s all sorts of complex neurochemistry, neurophysiology, and other body and heart stuff going on. In a nutshell, with nothing but yourself and your open mind, you’ve achieved a state of psychophysiological coherence.
Note: If you do this exercise on a daily basis (or more often if you’d like), you will profoundly impact your experience of your own quality of life and that of those who interact with you. Try it, you’ll like it.
30-Day Be Grateful Exercise
For the next 30 days, before you go to bed at night, reflect upon your day and your life and write down at least four things that you’re grateful for.
At the end of each week, take a few moments to reflect upon your notes and your week. Jot down a few brief notes regarding anything that shows up for you regarding anything to do with your gratitude practices.
If after 30 days:
You decide this practice isn’t working for you and not worth continuing — stop doing it.
If you are deriving value from it… own it… tweak it to your liking and let the practice evolve as time and life go bye.
